Activity Chart

What is the Activity Chart?

Visualize your workspace activity over time with beautiful, interactive charts showing notes created, tags added, and links created. Track your productivity and engagement patterns with a 12-week rolling view.

Quick Start

Command: Noted: Show Activity Chart

Or access it from the Calendar View’s statistics panel (integrated automatically).

Overview

The Activity Chart provides a comprehensive view of your note-taking activity across three key metrics:

• Notes Created: New note files created each week
• Tags Added: Tags introduced in notes (inline hashtags and frontmatter tags)
• Links Created: Wiki-style links added between notes

Standalone View

Opening the Chart

1. Open Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type “Noted: Show Activity Chart”
3. Or click the pulse icon in the My Notes view toolbar

Chart Features

┌─────────────── Platform Activity ──────────────┐
│                                    [Live Badge] │
│  Last 12 weeks · Production environment         │
│                                                  │
│  60 ┐                                           │
│     │                      ╱╲                   │
│  50 │                   ╱╲╱  ╲╱╲               │
│     │                 ╱         ╲              │
│  40 │               ╱             ╲            │
│     │             ╱                 ╲          │
│  30 │          ╱╲                     ╲        │
│     │        ╱   ╲                      ╲      │
│  20 │      ╱       ╲                      ╲    │
│     │   ╱╲           ╲                       ╲ │
│  10 │ ╱    ╲           ╲                       │
│   0 └────────────────────────────────────────── │
│      W1  W2  W3  W4  W5  W6  W7  W8  W9  W12   │
│                                                  │
│  Legend: [Notes] [Links] [Tags]                │
│                                                  │
│  Total Notes: 120    Avg: 10/week              │
│  Total Links: 85     Avg: 7/week               │
│  Total Tags:  45     Avg: 4/week                │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Interactive Elements

Hover Effects:

• Hover over any week to see detailed breakdown
• Tooltip shows week number, date range, and counts for all three metrics
• Points appear on hover showing exact data values

Legend:

• Click legend items to toggle metrics on/off
• Helps focus on specific metrics
• All three metrics visible by default

Theme Integration:

• Adapts to VS Code’s light/dark theme
• Consistent colors across all charts
• Purple gradient background with subtle border

Calendar View Integration

The Activity Chart is automatically included in the Calendar View’s statistics panel.

Access from Calendar

1. Open Calendar View (Cmd+Shift+C)
2. Look at the right-side statistics panel
3. Activity Chart is the first chart displayed

Integrated Features

Compact Design:

• Smaller height (160px) optimized for panel view
• Same smooth curves and color scheme
• All interactive features preserved

Consistent Styling:

• Matches other calendar statistics charts
• Purple gradient background
• Theme-aware colors

Multiple Charts: The statistics panel includes:

1. Activity Chart: 12-week stacked area (notes, tags, links)
2. Day of Week Patterns: Bar chart showing preferred writing days
3. Growth Over Time: Cumulative notes line chart
4. Daily Streak: Consecutive days tracking

All charts use:

• Chart.js for smooth animations
• Consistent theme colors
• Similar interaction patterns
• Compact heights to eliminate scrolling

Metrics Explained

Notes Created

What it tracks:

• New note files created each week
• Based on file creation timestamp (birthtime)

Includes:

• Daily notes
• Template-based notes
• Quick notes
• Category notes

Excludes:

• Template files themselves
• Deleted/archived notes

Tags Added

What it tracks:

• New tags introduced in notes each week
• Based on file modification timestamp

Includes:

• Inline hashtags (e.g., #project)
• Frontmatter tags (e.g., tags: [work, meeting])
• Hierarchical tags (e.g., #project/frontend)

Counting:

• Tags counted when files are modified
• Multiple instances of same tag count separately
• Frontmatter and inline tags both counted

Links Created

What it tracks:

• Wiki-style links added between notes
• Based on file modification timestamp

Includes:

• Basic links: [[note-name]]
• Section links: [[note#section]]
• Display text links: [[note|Display Text]]

Counting:

• Each link counted individually
• Bidirectional links count twice (once in each file)
• Links counted when files are modified

Understanding the Visualization

Stacked Area Chart

What is it?

• Three colored layers stacked on top of each other
• Total height represents combined activity
• Each layer shows contribution of one metric

Color Coding:

• Deep Blue: Notes Created (bottom layer, most prominent)
• Teal: Links Created (middle layer)
• Light Blue: Tags Added (top layer)

Reading the Chart:

• Higher total = more activity that week
• Wider blue section = more notes created
• Larger teal section = more link activity
• Light blue on top = tag usage

Weekly Timeline

Week Labels:

• W1 = Oldest week (12 weeks ago)
• W12 = Current week (most recent 7 days)

Week Boundaries:

• Each week starts on Sunday
• Current week runs from last Sunday to today
• Weeks are rolling (updates continuously)

Statistics Summary

Three Stat Cards:

┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│  Total Notes    │  Total Links    │  Total Tags     │
│      120        │       85        │       45        │
│  Avg: 10/week   │  Avg: 7/week    │  Avg: 4/week    │
└─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘

Hover Effects:

• Cards lift slightly on hover
• Shadow effect appears
• Border highlights

Data Source

How Data is Collected

File Timestamps:

• Notes Created: Uses file creation timestamp
• Links/Tags: Uses file modification timestamp

Retroactive Analysis:

• All data inferred from existing file metadata
• No need to install extension early
• Historical activity computed on-demand

Limitations:

• Accuracy depends on file system timestamps
• File moves/copies may affect creation times
• Tags/links attributed to modification time (not exact creation time)

Data Privacy

Local Only:

• All data stays on your machine
• No external services or analytics
• No data collection or transmission

On-Demand:

• Data computed when you open the view
• Not stored persistently
• Recalculated each time

Use Cases

Productivity Tracking

Monitor your note-taking habits:

• Identify productive weeks
• Spot patterns in activity levels
• Track consistency over time
• Celebrate progress milestones

Project Analysis

Understand project engagement:

• High note creation = active work periods
• Link growth = knowledge connecting
• Tag usage = organization and categorization
• Combined metrics = overall engagement

Habit Building

Build consistent note-taking habits:

• Visual feedback on consistency
• Weekly averages show baseline
• Spot gaps and dry periods
• Motivation through progress visibility

Retrospectives

Review past activity:

• What weeks were most productive?
• When did major projects happen?
• How has activity evolved over time?
• Identify busy vs. quiet periods

Tips and Tricks

Interpreting Patterns

Steady Growth:

• Consistent heights across weeks
• Indicates regular note-taking habit
• Sustainable pace

Spikes:

• Tall peaks in specific weeks
• May indicate project sprints
• Conference notes, learning sessions
• Important events or deadlines

Valleys:

• Low activity weeks
• Vacations, busy work periods
• Normal fluctuation

Trends:

• Increasing heights = growing habit
• Decreasing = potential burnout or shift
• Seasonal patterns may emerge

Optimizing Activity

Balance Metrics:

• Not just creating notes, but connecting them (links)
• Organizing knowledge (tags)
• Quality over quantity

Weekly Goals:

• Use averages as baseline
• Set realistic targets
• Celebrate consistency

Link Creation:

• Lower link counts = siloed notes
• Higher = connected knowledge graph
• Review notes to add connections

Theme Consistency

Centralized Color Palette

All charts (Activity, Day of Week, Growth) use consistent colors:

Activity Metrics:

• Notes: rgba(94, 114, 228, ...) - Deep blue
• Links: rgba(137, 196, 244, ...) - Teal
• Tags: rgba(190, 227, 248, ...) - Light blue

UI Elements:

• Accent: rgba(100, 180, 255, ...) - Bright blue
• Background: Purple gradients
• Borders: Subtle panel borders

Defined in: src/constants/themeColors.ts

VS Code Theme Adaptation

Axis Labels:

• Computed from --vscode-foreground variable
• Automatically adapts to light/dark theme
• Fallback to light gray if needed

Grid Lines:

• Subtle gray (rgba(128, 128, 128, 0.1))
• Consistent across all charts
• Minimal visual noise

Troubleshooting

No Data Showing

Possible Causes:

1. No notes created in last 12 weeks
2. Notes folder not configured
3. File timestamps unavailable

Solutions:

• Create some notes
• Verify notes folder in settings
• Check file system supports timestamps

Incorrect Data

File Timestamps:

• If you copied/moved notes, timestamps may be wrong
• OS differences in timestamp handling
• File system type affects accuracy

Workaround:

• Data reflects file system metadata
• Consider as approximate, not exact

Performance

Large Note Collections:

• Activity chart scans all notes
• May take few seconds for thousands of notes
• Computed on-demand, not cached

Optimization:

• Close view when not needed
• Data collection is one-time per view open

Related Features

• Calendar View: Includes integrated Activity Chart
• Search: Find notes from specific time periods
• Tags: Tag management and filtering
• Wiki Links: Create connections between notes